Last year, we pointed out this cool campaign for iPods with video in South Africa. Tiny boxes of movie popcorn, posters and even a miniature "trailer" announced the idea of "Movies in your pocket."
Today, Creative Bits describes another iPod campaign from South Africa. It features a set of earbuds that lead not to an iPod, but a pocket full of music, if you will. In one ad, a rock band does its thing in a woman's purse. In another, a boy band croons on a desk and a hip-hop act features a microphone wire that leads to the wearer's earbuds.
The images are great, and quite different from the silhouette ads we see in the US. Have you seen an interesting campaign or ad in your neck of the woods?
A big thank you to everyone who has written in, tipping us off about this new Apple TV commercial that just aired today on US television. "It's on your computer. It's on your iPod. Now, it's on your TV."
I'm not positive which movie they're using--is it "School of Rock"? SoR is on my to-watch list but I've never gotten around to seeing it yet.
As for the commercial itself, it's very on-message. It speaks directly to its core constituency. AppleTV is for the iTunes/iPod audience. It expands the way they use the media they already own. And hopefully it will serve the better-quality media we're expecting an announcement for at NAB 2007.
Microsoft's "The WOW Starts Now!" Vista promotion campaign has taken just about every computer and technology venue by storm. Everyone from the likes of Best Buy to Bob's Computers has at least some kind of hanging banner, floor signage or postcard handouts featuring the mind-numbing array of Vista flavors, but we're curious as to who actually designed all this promo material. Filippo Corti at the Mac Blog (crummy Google translation to English here) snapped this pic which features what must be a MacBook alongside four of the major versions of Vista. Considering that Vista's EULA forbids virtualizing any versions besides Business and Ultimate, this either amounts to a grossly mis-leading advertisement or a fox sly, pro-Apple designer among sheep.
[Update: Right on cue, some debate as to whether this is actually a MacBook or even a piece of Apple hardware at all has ensued. Some eagle-eyed readers have pointed out that the side ports actually say iBook, and we tend to agree. Still, this looks like a piece of iconic Apple hardware, and Microsoft could have made a more distinctive choice.]
Macworld UK has apparently heard it through the grape vine (or apple tree?) that Apple has secured some ad time for the iPhone during tonight's 79th annual Academy Awards ceremony. The proceedings kick off at 8 pm EST on ABC, and the ad was apparently "made for the Oscars," though no more details are available just yet.
I honestly wasn't planning on watching the Oscars, but now I'm hoping that Macworld hasn't gone the way of pageview-baiting because I just fired up the microwave for a jumbo popcorn session. Oh the things we do in the name of TUAW.
A couple of eagle-eyed readers have seen a new Mac ad on CNN and the net, featuring the two actors from the most recent campaign. This time, they're in boxes, with the Mac talking about how ready to go he is from the start, while the PC has to deal with all sorts of demo software and so on. We haven't seen it on Apple's site yet, so keep your eyes peeled and let us know what you find.
Remember
"Middle Seat," the ad that featured an iBook-wielding airline passenger? For some inexplicable reason, he
decides he's just got to work on his iMovie project during the flight, and he commandeers the dining
trays of the poor people sitting on his left and right, which he immediately fills with his computer, camera, Palm (why
he needs this is a mystery) and stacks of CDs. Finally, he blasts his music and wakes the sleeping passengers.
"Middle Seat" indeed. I've always thought of this ad as "Obnoxious Jerk." I like to think that, in
the moments just after the story ended, the guy in the tie gave this kid a pounding.
Sometimes even his Steveness is guilty of having too
much time on his hands. Apparently, Mr. Jobs won an abandoned mineral mine in Australia in a game of poker (or so the digg post says). So what does Steve do with the land?
Why, construct the world's largest homage to the iPod, of course!
The site can be seen from space (Google Maps link) and
still looks to be a work in progress - but wow. I wonder if this is Apple's attempt at putting little white music
players in the hands of little green men.
Apple is
airing a slightly different version of their Intel ad in the UK. They have changed the voice over to remove the 'dull
little boxes dutifully doing dull little tasks' line and replaced it with, 'dutifully doing all the things PC's were
built to do.'
This change makes this a less effective ad, but you don't have to take my word for it because
you can watch it yourself.
The practice of
aligning your own product with another cool device is nothing new. Check out this ad for the Ford Fusion. It starts, oddly enough, with a full-on shot
of an iPod. Some sort of odd "bubbles" float out of the iPod, through the air and eventually into the Fusion,
as if to say, "Watch as the iPod's 'coolness' is transferred into our car."
It's Ford's intention
to reach that coveted 25-35 year old demographic with the spot, and "...[it] plays into that
generation's love of technology and their love of music. Also, the iPod is so iconic that people stop to watch the
ad," says Linda Perry-Lube, car communications manager for Ford. So now the iPod itself is being used to sell
other items. As Slate notes, " [that's] because people think
it's a new iPod ad."
So, what's the effect on you, the consumer? Does the Fusion seem cooler, or
does the iPod seem less so having been pawned out like this?
Since the debut of Apple's Intel ad at Macworld, people have noticed the resemblance it bears
to a certain music video by the band The Postal Service. MacTV has a nice side by side video of the ad and the music video. They also note that both
the commercial and music video were made by the same directors, Josh Melnick and Xander Charity. I agree with Leander at
The Cult of Mac Blog
when he says that the legal implications here are quite unclear. Are these images the property of the directors, the ad
agency, the band, Apple? I'm not familiar with this type of thing, so if you've got a legal background, pipe up.
Last year, we pointed out this cool campaign for iPods with video in South Africa. Tiny boxes of movie popcorn, posters and even a miniature "trailer" announced the idea of "Movies in your pocket."
A couple of eagle-eyed readers have seen 
Remember
"Middle Seat," the ad that featured an iBook-wielding airline passenger? For some inexplicable reason, he
decides he's just got to work on his iMovie project during the flight, and he commandeers the dining
trays of the poor people sitting on his left and right, which he immediately fills with his computer, camera, Palm (why
he needs this is a mystery) and stacks of CDs. Finally, he blasts his music and wakes the sleeping passengers.
"Middle Seat" indeed. I've always thought of this ad as "Obnoxious Jerk." I like to think that, in
the moments just after the story ended, the guy in the tie gave this kid a pounding.
Sometimes even his Steveness is guilty of having too
much time on his hands. Apparently, Mr. Jobs won an abandoned mineral mine in Australia in a game of poker (or so the 
The practice of
aligning your own product with another cool device is nothing new. Check out 
